The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, respects the privacy and personal information of its constituents. This Privacy Policy governs the way the MFAH collects and uses information both online and offline, including at www.mfah.org and its subdomains, and including websites accessed through users mobile devices as well as downloadable mobile applications (“Websites”). The MFAH has adopted a policy of not sharing with third parties any personal identifying information you provide when purchasing a membership, ticket, item from the MFAH Shop, or making a donation except (1) to the extent required by law, (2) to acknowledge your donation in our publications, (3) to share your name, postal address, email address and/or telephone number with other non-profit organizations, (4) to share your name, postal address, email address and/or telephone number with other organizations or companies whose products might be of interest to you, or (5) to share your personal identifying information with third-party vendors to help us manage the website, process transactions, and better respond to the needs of our visitors. For more information on opting out of these options, please see the "Unsubscribe / Opt-Out" section.

II. The Information We Collect

The MFAH collects personal identifying information in order to better fulfill your online orders, facilitate customer service, and inform you of the Museum's products and promotional offers. This information is only collected when knowingly provided by individuals. The types of personal information collected throughout the Museum’s website are: name, shipping and billing addresses, email address, phone number and credit card information.

III. How We Use the Information You Provide

The MFAH understands and respects personal information. We collect and use the information you provide to personalize the Websites so that we can better meet your needs, fulfill your online order, facilitate customer service, inform you of products and promotional offers, analyze trends and collect statistics. We maintain the data that you provide, along with a record of your transactions, in secure databases. To best serve you, we may combine this information with data that is publicly available and data that we receive from other reputable sources. Our collection and use of visitor information varies with the type of visit or transaction. For details about each transaction type, please see sections III(A)-(G) below. If you do not wish to have your personal information shared with third-party organizations, please see the "Unsubscribe/ Opt-out" section.

A. When You Make a Donation or Purchase a Membership (online or on-site)

When you join the MFAH family of members or make a donation online or on-site, you will be asked to provide us with the information needed to process your membership or donation transaction and to acknowledge your generous contribution to the MFAH. This information will include your name, billing and mailing addresses, telephone number, email address and credit card information. Your credit card information will not be used for any purpose other than to process your transaction. We retain your personal identifying information for our records, however, the MFAH will not share this personal identifying information with third-parties, except as set forth in the section above entitled "Our Commitment to Your Privacy." If you do not wish to have your personal information shared with third-party organizations, please see the "Unsubscribe/ Opt-out" section.

B. When You Purchase Tickets or Shop Online

When you purchase tickets or shop online, you will be asked to provide personal identifying information necessary to fulfill the order. This may include your name, billing and shipping addresses, telephone number, email address, and credit card number. Your credit card information will not be used for any purpose other than to process your online transaction. We retain your personal identifying information (as described in the section entitled "Our Commitment to Your Privacy") for our records and may share your name, postal address, email address and/or telephone number with other organizations or companies whose products might be of interest to you. If you do not wish to have your personal information shared with third-party organizations, please see the "Unsubscribe/ Opt-out" section.

C. When You Register

You may use the MFAH website without registering or submitting any personal information. However, registering with MFAH enables you to maintain your contact information and receive information about upcoming exhibition programs and events at the Museum. If you choose to register you will be asked to provide personal information that may include a username, password, and email address. The Museum stores this information, along with your other preferences, on a secure server. If you choose to store your logon and password in your web browser, your logon information will be stored on your computer. You may review or change your account information, or sign out at any time.

MFAH is located in the United States and our marketing materials and newsletters are intended for individuals located within the United States. If you choose to access mfah.org and/or sign up for any of our marketing materials or newsletters (or otherwise provide MFAH with any of your information) from the European Union or other regions of the world with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law, then please note that you are transferring your personal information outside of those regions to the United States for storage and processing, and that the privacy laws in the U.S. may offer fewer protections than those of your home country. Also, we may transfer your data from the United States to other countries or regions in connection with storage and processing of data, fulfilling your requests, and providing services or information to you. By providing any information to MFAH, including personal information, through mfah.org, via email, or any other means, you consent to such transfer, storage, and processing.

D. Email Communications

The MFAH regularly sends emails to our members to provide them with previews of upcoming exhibitions and other programs the Museum has to offer. If you do not wish to receive emails from the MFAH, please see the "Unsubscribe / Opt-out" section.

E. Online Contests

Occasionally, the MFAH will offer visitors, members or other patrons the opportunity to participate in online contests. In order to enter, you must provide your name and email address so that we can contact you with contest rules, names of winners and other important information during the contest. We may also request additional information such as your zip code, state of residence, or age / school graduation date.

F. Viewing the Website

The Museum may use communications with our Sites, transaction details, and identifying information (such as IP addresses in order to maintain audit trails for security purposes). In addition, when you access and use our Sites, we automatically record information about that activity. This includes your browser type, your operating system and device model, your device’s IP address or other identifier, the types of information you search for and view on our Sites, locale preferences, system memory information, and your mobile carrier. If you arrive at our Sites by clicking on a link on another website, we may also take note of the web page you visited before you came to our Site. The museum does not sell or rent foregoing information to third parties.

G. Aggregate Statistics

The MFAH may also compile and provide aggregate statistics about our visitors, customers, sales, traffic patterns, and related institutional information to third parties, but these statistics will not include any personally identifying information. We may share the names and postal addresses we receive from members and donors with other nonprofit organizations. If you do not wish to share your personal information with other nonprofit organizations, please see the "Unsubscribe/ Opt-out" section.

IV. Privacy Protection of Children

The MFAH takes special care in protecting the privacy of children. For this reason, we do not knowingly collect personal identifying information from children under the age of thirteen (13). The MFAH encourages all parents to participate in their children’s exploration of the Internet and to teach them about protecting their personal information while online. We urge those concerned or with questions to contact the Museum for more information.

V. Data Security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and allow the use of information as described in this policy, we have put in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. We utilize SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology, which encrypts our visitor's credit card numbers, names and addresses.

VI. Cookies

The MFAH website utilizes "cookies," which are small data files that are automatically sent to your browser from a Web server and stored on your computer's hard drive. They do not contain any personal identifying information about you and are generally used to gather information in order to analyze the MFAH website's activity and traffic. This measure is intended to improve our website content and navigation. Like many websites, our Sites use Google’s Analytic services, which involve the use of cookies to collect web traffic data. Per the applicable service terms, Google Analytics does not collect personal identifying information using such cookies, and Google’s use of data is subject to Google’s privacy policy. You have the option to set your browser so that it does not accept cookies. Most areas of the MFAH website will function without cookies; however, if you wish to register, sign in, or shop online, cookies are required.

VII. Third Party Service Providers

The MFAH may engage reputable third-party vendors in order to help us better respond to the needs of our constituents, including processing transactions. We do require, however, that any third-party vendor maintain the security of all information to which they are provided access. Third-party vendors may use your personal identifying information in ways other than those described above. Please consult the privacy policy of the third-party vendor for ways in which they use your personal identifying information as well as ways to opt-out. The MFAH does not use or share the personal identifying information provided to us by you in ways unrelated to the ones described above (see section III) without also providing you an opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses. The Museum also uses third-party (Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest) tools to give you easy ways to share content with others. The information you provide when using these tools is subject to the third parties’ Privacy Policies.

VIII. Revisions to the Privacy Policy
Please take note that the MFAH may revise its privacy policy at any time. Revisions may arise in response to changes in the law, policy, or other factors. These revisions are effective immediately upon posting on the MFAH website. If we make any revisions to this policy that materially alter our practices with regard to the personal information we have previously collected from you, we will endeavor to notify you in advance of such change, by highlighting the change in this policy or by sending an email to you at the email address we have collected. Check here often for updates.

IX. Unsubscribe / Opt-Out

The MFAH respects your preferences as they pertain to institutional use of personal identifying information. You may opt-out of any of the following MFAH uses of your personal identifying information:

Sharing your name, postal address, and email address with other third-party organizations or companies whose products might be of interest to you; and/or

Sending you emails about MFAH programming and other information

To opt-out of the above uses, or to unsubscribe to the MFAH email list, please send an email request containing your name and postal address to webeditor@mfah.org

To opt-out of uses by third-parties, or to unsubscribe to the third-party email list, please refer to the privacy policy located on the third-party website.

X. Updating Your Information and Contacting Us:

The MFAH strives to maintain accurate records of all of its constituents. In the event that you wish to update information or correct factual errors in your personal identifying information, please send us a request by email to guestservices@mfah.org. To protect your privacy and security, we will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections to information maintained by the institution.

Should you have any questions or concerns regarding this privacy policy, please email us at guestservices@mfah.org or call us at 713.639.7550 during the following business hours, which are in central time: